"What gives this system an A++ grade is the fact that we only enter information once,
and records throughout the organization are instantly updated."
Ethan Felson
Assistant Executive Director
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Sage Fundraising 100 is "Industry Standard" for Jewish Council for Public Affairs
"I shudder to remember what things were like before Sage Fundraising 100."
Ethan Felson, assistant executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), knows what a difference a good donor relations management system can make. JCPA is the coordinating body for 13 different national Jewish organizations, plus 125 local Jewish federations and community relations councils. Until mid-2002, the Council struggled with information from at least five different spreadsheets, various Word documents, contacts folders, several databases and numerous Web site lists, none of which "spoke" to the others.
"Sage Fundraising 100 transformed several departments of our organization overnight," says Felson. "We used it to condense the contents of scores of filing cabinets and other places where information got lost — into a single location with flexible access much like a Rolodex file. With Sage Fundraising 100, we got much more than just fundraising software. It touches every part of our operation, finances, development, communications, event management, communication, etc. The system is so good that I'd brush my teeth with it if I could."
Comprehensive Donor Data
Sage Fundraising 100 gives JCPA the tools it needs to prospect, manage and cultivate donor relationships. The software maintains data on both the corporations and individuals belonging to JCPA. It tracks donations, conference attendees, contact information, volunteers, committee responsibilities, and even demographic information like the number of Jews living in a city.
"What gives this system an A++ grade is the fact that we only enter information once, and records throughout the organization are instantly updated," Felson explains.
Flexible and Robust
Felson likes the way Sage Fundraising 100 interfaces with Microsoft Outlook. "Everyone in our organization has Outlook, so they don't need to go into Sage Fundraising 100 to access data," he notes. "I simply import basic rolodex information from Sage Fundraising 100 into Outlook so our staff has current information at their desktops — plus we can run lists from Sage Fundraising 100 that produce Outlook e-mails with all current e-mail addresses."
JCPA uses the power of Sage Fundraising 100 to manage its finances. "The system knows which members owe what, the time of year they're supposed to pay, and when the last payment was. Six times a year it sends out pledge statements to individuals and bills to agencies for outstanding dues. This is saving us at least 150 work hours per year on statement preparation alone. Revenue flows have improved significantly due to timely collections. And member complaints about administrative issues have dropped to almost zero."
Sage Fundraising 100 puts vast amounts of information at Felson's fingertips. He can easily determine the number of agencies calling each month about issues such as church-state separation, interfaith relations, or other areas of concern. He knows who will be coming to the annual conference. He even knows if a member wants to be referred to as Dr. rather than Mrs., and can print name tags accordingly.
"An Activist's Dream"
Sage Fundraising 100 proved its worth when the agency needed to mobilize quickly and several key JCPA members were on vacation. Felson kept them current on breaking developments with emergency contact information from Sage Fundraising 100 and Outlook stored in the Palm Pilot's of senior staff. "We were able to make speedy decisions because we had everyone's information in our pockets, and could reach people on a moment's notice," he says.
Another time Felson had a meeting at the State Department and needed personal data from members to gain entrance to the building. Fortunately, they had the information stored in a secure location within Sage Fundraising 100.
"Sage Fundraising 100 is an activist's dream," Felson says. "It eliminates a staggering number of problems from a senior manager's to-do list."
